Thursday, January 27, 2011

Chris started gutting my bathroom today. It was worse than we thought it was. There was a ton of mold behind the walls...

I'm amazed that no one had fallen through the floor. After the tile was taken up, the floor just crumbled away.

Even the floor joists are bad.

I called my insurance company, but they said they wouldn't cover it. I'm calling back tomorrow and throwing a fit until someone comes out to look at it. I did go get an air purifier to put by the bathroom in the hopes that it would trap any mold spores in the air, but I'm so disgusted by this whole mess. My washer and dryer is in that bathroom too. I'm scared to set foot in there to do laundry.

22 comments:

do you have another bathroom you can use?? we had a bathroom worse than this(it looked like it had been through a fire, it was completely black all the way through the floor and through the walls to the stucco on the outside) we only had the one bathroom so we had to move out, but we sprayed cleaned it all up really well, then sprayed it with bleach and then put fans on it to dry it for several weeks..replaced the floor and walls and then redid it all and it was perfect, but you need to bleach it and let it dry well before you do anything!!

For the mold/to keep spores from spreading too badly-spray a heavy-duty bleach solution everywhere you see mold. Really saturate it. That will kill the mold and keep spores from spreading so badly. If you can get your hands on a UV light to put in there, that will help too. This plus the air purifier should minimize repiratory issues until repairs are done. My husband is a contractor who does some mold remediation-I really hope this helps some! If we lived closer I would totally come help! Wishing you good renovating juju, and saying prayers for you guys :)

If it makes you feel better, it's probably not toxic mold. Believe it or not, there are molds that are just plain old mold. We had the exact same situation when we did our bathrooms and the insurance company and city inspectors both said it's not toxic mold. Still gross, still needs dealt with, but not dangerous.

yuck to the bathroom. I am glad you have someone you trust to do the work for you. Think he will make a drive out to Crystal Lake? I need some work done and got screwed by the last guy. Can you let me know. Thanks

I am Glad your getting rid of that stuff , Looking back at how often you guys are sick it could be the mold doing it . Someone could have an allergy ,My youngest is alergic to mold & its like she has a bad flu when shes near it. hope this gets rsolved soon

Good Morning The ONLY WAY to get an insurance company "to participate" is to declare water damage from a FROZEN PIPE. Has it been COLD out there lately? Strangely, Insurance will NOT pay the cost of repairing the actual frozen pipe, BUT./.they will pay for the repairs to walls,floors,the ceiling UNDER the bathroom(if there is a basement).It is IMPORTANT that they be specifically told that pipe repairs are NOT being included in the estimate..and that you have already paid for that repair..in CASH!

You will need "someone"to certify that there was a frozen pipe (I used to keep a box of such pipes..when I dealt with adjusters.

Too bad you called to make a "claim" BEFORE you told US about the problems first..BUT..it may still NOT be too late...Have your friend cut out a 6 inch piece of copper tube.then re-solder in a nice fresh piece of shiny copper.MAYBE you should NOT print this message...as I just told you how to commit a FRAUD...Better yet..have your friend call in the claim..as the CONTRACTOR/handy-man...you will just get flustered if you try by yourself!

Good luck with insurance! We have a vacation house that had a leaky roof and the walls had the same problem around the fireplace chimney. When insurance came out and saw that it had been an ongoing problem they said they wouldn't cover it. Hopefully your insurance will be able to cover it.

Was the damaged caused by a plumbing leak? While I don't know the details of your particular insurance policy, ordinarily in Illinois, water damage caused by a leak is covered, but the actual plumbing repair is excluded (unless damage was caused by a freeze/thaw situation). There is often a mold exclusion as well. What I'm saying is that, while not all of the damage will be covered, a portion might be, so I'd definitely push. Speak to a supervisor if you need to. If you need any pointers about how to deal with the ins. co, send me an email. I've got 18 yrs. exp. in this area.Good luck!Deb

Dawn, have you ever heard of the essential oil blend called "Thieves"? It will kill mold and anything else in its path. You can diffuse it into the air, then use it in a spray bottle with water to clean the areas that can't be demolished. It works! http://www.secretofthieves.com/index.cfm?CFID=726737&CFTOKEN=13789641

Wow, the fraud advice is interesting! I'm not sure how being dishonest would mesh with trusting God to help you....Personally, I'd rather have His help than the insurance company's help, if I had to pick just one! I'm sure you feel the same way.

Yeah, as an insurance professional, I can tell you that mold is almost always excluded from any insurance policy, not just yours -- the only time it is covered is incidentally as part of remediation following a water damage loss. You do need to have a qualified remediation specialist look at that mess, though -- I'd suggest calling Belfor, who I believe are in your state.

I read somewhere once that spraying pure bleach directly on the mold helps to kill the spores. I would think home insurance would cover this and hope you get good results when you call back. Good Luck!

Hydrogen peroxide was suggested to us when we were dealing with roof melt based mold on our second floor. We did some research and found it is much more appropriate than bleach and was used extensively in the Katrina cleanup. Good luck!

As a mold inspection certified professional, my hat is off to those who have done their research and discovered that household bleach does NOT kill mold, even straight out of the jug. (Don't even try that, it may kill you) Household bleach simply bleaches mold so you can't see it without a microscope, the chlorine evaporates and leaves behind WATER to help the mold grow better. Looking at the pictures, I have to recommend a professional mold remediator. If you ignore my advice and decide to do it yourself, wear long sleeves and pants, gloves, mask and goggles. If it were my house, I'd use swimming pool grade hydrogen peroxide.